Rules let the dog know what it mustn't do. Rules set behavioural limits and social boundaries. Rules are established through discipline, body language and daily rituals such as greetings and mealtimes. Rules constitute the dominant-subordinate dimension of the human-canine bond.

The vast majority of dogs are natural born followers. Followers need leadership.

Leadership lets the dog know what it may do. Leadership provides the basis for social cooperation and interactive harmony.

Leadership constitutes the leader-follower dimension of the human-canine bond.

As humans, we often feel that if we are not fussing and petting our dogs at every opportunity or buying them new toys each week, we are not giving them enough attention or affection. However, a dog's idea of attention and affection means being included in daily activities, being given social boundaries, leadership, regular playful interaction, and having its basic, physical needs recognised and catered for.

The dog in the picture to the right is helping me to hang the laundry on the line by passing me clothes pegs from a basket on the ground. Simply allowing a dog to be involved in mundane, daily activities is a great way to provide attention and affection (and leadership), and makes household chores so much more enjoyable for us humans too.

Love is ... companionship, respect, teamwork and trust, as well as affectionate fuss.

Affection constitutes the nurturance-dependence dimension of the human-canine bond.

Many behaviour problems can be eased and even solved by increasing or changing a dog’s physical exercise. Scientific studies have shown that long-term, moderate, daily physical exercise causes the body to release beta-endorphins, enhances noradrenergic activity (increasing the production of noradrenaline) and increases serotonin metabolism in the brain. What this means is that over time, moderate, daily physical exercise directly and beneficially affects the dog's brain chemistry, counteracting the adverse effects of stress, enhancing the dog’s general mood, raising tolerance levels, and controlling impulses. Put simply, the right kind of regular, daily physical exercise naturally makes dogs (and humans) feel good.

Brisk walking or the 'dog-trot' is the ideal ‘feel-good’ exercise. Walking together is also an ideal opportunity to strengthen the human-canine bond whilst fulfilling the dog’s need to travel and explore. The amount of time per day that many owners spend walking their dogs isn’t sufficient to change or sustain a stressed dog’s brain chemistry for the better. I recommend an hour’s brisk walk per day for a dog’s main walk as a minimum, although an hour and half is generally the ideal for most dogs. A brisk walking pace provides near to the ideal level of physical exertion to cause the maximum release of 'feel-good' hormones. A faster pace requires increased physical effort, and if the sustained pace is too fast or hard it doesn't benefit the dog's neuroeconomy, which means that 45 minutes of fast running doesn't produce the long-term, sustainable feel-good factor of an hour and half of dog-trotting. A dog's main form of exercise shouldn't be aimed at tiring the dog out so that it has no energy left to 'misbehave' ~ it should primarily be about changing the dog's mood for the better.

~ Obedience/basic training. This utilises all three dimensions of the human-canine bond ~ the dog learns what not to do (e.g. not jump up), what it may do instead (e.g. jump up on cue) and what it gets for cooperating (e.g. attention and affection).

~ Teaching a new ‘trick’ every few weeks (e.g., shake hands, rollover, play dead, etc,) using praise, touch, play and/or food as reinforcement.

~ Hiding your dog’s favourite toy, and then directing her to find it. This differs from allowing the dog free-rein to seek out the toy by herself.
By directing her, you are providing leadership, for which she will receive a reward (i.e. play with the toy) for her attention and cooperation.

~ When playing ball or Frisbee, include a few basic obedience commands between throws to keep your dog focused on you and 'earning' his fun.

The average amount of daily rest (lying down relaxing, dozing and sleeping) that most dogs require is about 17 hours. Rest and relaxation is important to the management of biological and emotional stress as it allows the body to recover from releases of ‘stress’ hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. Whilst the release of these and other substances in response to stress is normal, the levels can build up and become abnormal if the body is denied sufficient time to rest and recover. Dogs suffering from long-term stress often display exaggerated behaviour, and are more prone to aggress because stress lowers emotional and impulse thresholds ~ in other words, as well as developing compulsive behaviour, stressed dogs are more likely to overreact in certain situations, react with less and less provocation each time, or react impulsively.

Quality sleep is vital to the dog's psychological and physiological well-being. During sleep, and especially at night, an important neurohormone called melatonin is released into the body from the pineal gland. Melatonin helps to regulate the sleep-wake cycle. This means that not only it is needed to promote quality sleep, sleep is required for its production. Melatonin also protects the body's cells and strengthens the immune system.